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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28158261">Blood Earns Blood, Love Earns Love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/caramarie/pseuds/latecamellia'>latecamellia (caramarie)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>ATEEZ (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood Drinking, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Kang Yeosang/Kim Hongjoong, Murder Mystery, Past Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang, Vampire Hunter Park Seonghwa, Vampire Jung Wooyoung, Vampire Kang Yeosang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:00:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,223</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28158261</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/caramarie/pseuds/latecamellia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Wooyoung’s peaceful (non-)life as a vampire is interrupted when a young vampire hunter comes asking questions about a recent string of murders. Wooyoung might not know anything about the murders, but he <em>does</em> know that this particular hunter is extremely hot, and that’s enough to make Wooyoung want to help him. But as they investigate, Wooyoung starts to recall his own history more and more.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jung Wooyoung &amp; Kang Yeosang, Jung Wooyoung/Park Seonghwa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wooyoung was in the middle of dinner when the vampire hunter visited.</p><p>He’d been expecting that one <em>would</em> come – enough murders of a certain kind and any vampire with any notoriety would be visited – but it was very inconvenient to be interrupted with your teeth in someone’s thigh.</p><p>If it had been up to Wooyoung, he would have ignored the doorbell. Unfortunately for him, Yeosang had got the door – and because Yeosang was still, after 200-odd years, an ass, he knocked loudly on Wooyoung’s door to tell him to get out and be decent.</p><p>The young woman Wooyoung was feeding from sat up, looking flustered. Wooyoung ran his finger along the line of blood that was still running down her thigh, and wished he could just ignore Yeosang. Except he knew that Yeosang wouldn’t hesitate to drag him out himself, and that would be embarrassing for all of them.</p><p>‘You can stay here,’ Wooyoung told the woman.</p><p>The knocking increased.</p><p>‘I’m coming,’ Wooyoung yelled back. He rolled his eyes in a gesture of shared frustration with the woman. She narrowed her eyes.</p><p>Okay, maybe she wasn’t going to stick around. Well, it would be Yeosang’s fault if Wooyoung was grouchy from not having eaten properly.</p><p>He only made a halfway effort to look respectable. If he interviewed with the vampire hunter wearing only a robe, well, maybe it would fluster them and maybe it wouldn’t, but at least it would establish an image of the sort of vampire Wooyoung was. That is, one who wanted the people he fed from to have a nice time and not to be brutally murdered.</p><p>Yeosang had rejoined the hunter in the kitchen when Wooyoung came out. He’d made him a cup of tea, and sat him down at the dining table neither Yeosang nor Wooyoung required.</p><p>‘Here he is,’ Yeosang said, turning in his chair to face Wooyoung. He made it sound as if Wooyoung was very trying to him. ‘Wooyoung, this is Park Seonghwa.’</p><p>The hunter – Park Seonghwa – did not evince any reaction to Wooyoung’s dissolute appearance. Wooyoung, on the other hand, was forced to put a hand over his heart, because the hunter was, quite frankly, stunning. Those cheekbones. Eyes that pierced Wooyoung through.</p><p>‘I’m sorry to have disturbed you,’ Seonghwa said, standing to give a short bow.</p><p>‘Sometimes it’s good to be disturbed,’ Wooyoung said. He slid into the seat next to Yeosang’s, slouching over the table. His robe slipped off his shoulder, and he didn’t bother to correct it.</p><p>Seonghwa <em>did</em> look a little flustered at that. Uncertain. He sat back down and picked up his tea, turning the cup in his hands.</p><p>Yeosang mouthed at Wooyoung, ‘I said make yourself decent.’ Wooyoung ignored him.</p><p>‘I assume you know what I’m here about,’ Seonghwa said.</p><p>‘Sure,’ Wooyoung said. ‘It’s not like your type ever make social calls.’ Seonghwa just looked at him. ‘Yes, yes,’ Wooyoung went on. ‘It’s the murders in Gangnam, right? I don’t go south of the river much.’</p><p>Seonghwa didn’t look impressed. To be fair, you wouldn’t last long in the business if you believed everything that came out a vampire’s mouth. Not that Seonghwa could have been working long, given Wooyoung had never met him before. And he looked young.</p><p>‘How old are you?’ Wooyoung asked.</p><p>‘Sorry?’</p><p>‘I don’t know how I’m meant to talk to you,’ Wooyoung said, while Yeosang muttered something uncomplimentary.</p><p>‘I’m 23,’ Seonghwa said.</p><p>‘Yeosang, he’s older than us!’</p><p>‘Ignore him,’ Yeosang told Seonghwa. ‘You should just ask what you need to ask.’</p><p>‘I can’t believe they sent such a baby hunting,’ Wooyoung said. He and Yeosang had been 21 when they died – he knew that, even if he didn’t know how many years ago it was. Things like dates and years had been less important back in their human life.</p><p>‘I have a list of times,’ Seonghwa said stiffly. ‘If you could account for yourselves during those times, it would be helpful.’</p><p>‘I guess we can’t alibi each other, huh?’ Wooyoung said. He took up the list Seonghwa offered him.</p><p>He could hear, then, his own guest in the hall, leaving. She didn’t try to come in and say goodbye, and Wooyoung wasn’t inclined to insist. Well, he probably wouldn’t get another meal out of her. Never mind. You didn’t go hungry, living in the city.</p><p>Wooyoung couldn’t account for himself every time the vampire hunter had noted, but there were certainly several times that Wooyoung had been with people who weren’t Yeosang. It was probably indiscreet, to hand their contact details over so willingly. And some vampires would have been disinclined to cooperate with a hunter on principle. But Wooyoung wasn’t one of those. And besides, he wanted Seonghwa to think well of him. Even if it was just because he was hot.</p><p>Probably after 200-odd years, Wooyoung should have become less shallow in that regard.</p><p>‘These are all different people,’ Seonghwa said, looking at Wooyoung’s list.</p><p>‘Yes? Try not to harass them too much.’ Not that it mattered how polite Seonghwa was, they’d probably all be turned off just for being asked the question. Maybe Wooyoung <em>should</em> be less blasé about it all.</p><p>Yeosang’s list was not as long as Wooyoung’s, but then, Yeosang mostly fed from the one person these days. He would have said it was because he was more discerning than Wooyoung. Wooyoung would have said it was just because Yeosang was boring. Then they would pretend to get in a fight.</p><p>‘Is that all you need?’ Yeosang asked. He sounded more uncomfortable now.</p><p>‘This is very civilised,’ Wooyoung said. ‘Not like back in the old days.’ He propped his chin in one hand. ‘Hunters were a lot less congenial then.’</p><p>Seonghwa glanced up from his notes. ‘You two have been around long enough,’ he said. ‘You know how it goes.’</p><p>It was really a formality, he meant. The vampires who went around killing indiscriminately didn’t have known addresses or offer hunters tea when they came to visit. Or they were less obvious about it, at least.</p><p>Probably it was a new vampire.</p><p>Of course, a new vampire needed someone to have turned them, so they could be under suspicion for that.</p><p>‘If there’s anything you <em>do</em> know …’ Seonghwa said. Was he disheartened by this experience? It had probably been more exciting for hunters when they could go straight for the staking.</p><p>‘You should give us your number,’ Wooyoung said. A bit too eagerly, from the look Yeosang gave him. ‘We can let you know if we do hear anything.’ He offered Seonghwa his phone, and Seonghwa gingerly took it.</p><p>After Wooyoung had secured his number, and they had shepherded him out, Yeosang looked at Wooyoung, and he said, ‘You’re terrible.’</p><p>‘What?’ Wooyoung said. ‘You don’t think having specifically been trained to kill people like us is an attractive quality in a man?’</p><p>‘He’s not going to let you bite him, Wooyoung.’</p><p>‘Never say never.’</p>
<hr/><p>The next time Wooyoung saw Seonghwa was at a bar. Not a human bar; Wooyoung was surprised the hunter had been allowed in. It wasn’t as if he was there as someone’s guest.</p><p>Wooyoung found himself keeping an eye on him. Not because he was that good-looking – although he was – but because he couldn’t have been in the hunting business that long. It would have been awful if he got killed for being out of his depth.</p><p>‘Either stop ogling the newbie,’ said Jongho, who was Wooyoung’s companion for the evening, ‘or go talk to him. I don’t care which.’</p><p>‘He’s investigating the murders,’ Wooyoung said, distractedly. The woman Seonghwa was talking to was a fox, not a vampire. Wooyoung couldn’t tell if Seonghwa was asking her questions or if the woman was just looking at him like prey.</p><p>‘I don’t see why it has to be one of us,’ Jongho said. ‘Humans can’t kill each other messily on their own?’</p><p>‘I didn’t ask the details,’ Wooyoung said. No, he did <em>not</em> like the way the woman was looking at Seonghwa. ‘I’ll be back,’ he told Jongho; Jongho waved at him like he didn’t particularly care.</p><p>‘Park Seonghwa,’ Wooyoung said as he approached, ‘stop ignoring me.’</p><p>Seonghwa gave a little jump; the woman had a hand on his arm, and she gave Wooyoung a flat look. Wooyoung smiled back at her, with about as much emotion.</p><p>‘I wasn’t ignoring you,’ Seonghwa said.</p><p>‘Uh-huh,’ Wooyoung said. To the woman, he said, ‘Sorry, I have to steal him now.’</p><p>‘Seriously?’ she said.</p><p>‘Yeah, I called dibs.’</p><p>‘What are you talking about?’ Seonghwa said, although he didn’t resist when Wooyoung put a hand on the small of his back and guided him away.</p><p>‘She wanted to eat your liver,’ Wooyoung said, when they were out of earshot.</p><p>‘So?’</p><p>‘I don’t want her to eat your liver,’ Wooyoung said. ‘Come on, have you interrogated Jongho yet?’</p><p>Jongho wasn’t impressed at being offered up for interrogation – he kicked Wooyoung under the table several times for the indignity, and argued back to Seonghwa.</p><p>‘Look, no-one’s going to risk pissing off the Council in this day and age,’ Jongho said. ‘Anyone who <em>could</em>, you can bet the likes of us would never hear about it.’</p><p>‘People take stupid risks all the time,’ Seonghwa said. ‘Someone killed those women.’</p><p>‘Someone like us, right,’ Jongho said, his voice sarcastic.</p><p>‘It wasn’t a human draining people.’</p><p>‘Some humans do think they’re vampires,’ Jongho said. ‘Crazy ones.’</p><p>‘Oh my god,’ Wooyoung muttered. ‘I’m sorry I brought him over.’</p><p>Jongho looked at him with a little smirk, and Wooyoung kicked him this time.</p><p>Trying to stay on topic, Wooyoung said, ‘I think you’d have to be quite young to drain a person. I could never drink that much.’</p><p>Seonghwa turned to him with a horrified expression; Jongho looked delighted.</p><p>‘I’m just saying. You learn moderation, as you get older. I could certainly take enough to kill someone, or let them bleed out ... but that’s not what you said.’</p><p>Seonghwa lost his horror; he looked uncertain.</p><p>Wooyoung directed his next point at Jongho. ‘And if someone’s turned someone by accident, or just carelessly, they might not even know they have to worry about the Council.’</p><p>‘<em>Were</em> they drained?’ Jongho asked.</p><p>‘Yes,’ Seonghwa said.</p><p>Wooyoung thought about the list of times Seonghwa had shown him. ‘That’s a lot of blood.’</p><p>Seonghwa stood up suddenly.</p><p>‘Hey –’ Wooyoung said.</p><p>‘I have to go.’</p><p>Wooyoung didn’t try to stop him. Maybe he shouldn’t have spoken so bluntly, but it wasn’t like a hunter wasn’t aware of what his kind were capable of.</p><p>‘I bet I could drain a human,’ Jongho said, when Seonghwa was gone.</p><p>‘Only if you were trying to prove something,’ Wooyoung said. ‘You’d feel terrible afterwards.’</p><p>He chatted to Jongho for a while longer, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Seonghwa. How suddenly he’d left. Maybe Wooyoung had gone too far – it wasn’t very circumspect, was it, to talk about how you might kill someone? Wooyoung knew that he wouldn’t kill anyone feeding, but Seonghwa didn’t know that. Seonghwa didn’t know that he never had.</p><p>On the way home, he texted Seonghwa. <em>I hope I didn’t freak you out,</em> he said. <em>I do want you to solve the murders.</em></p><p>He didn’t get a response right away. Maybe Seonghwa was making him wait, or didn’t want to talk to him. Or maybe something had happened to him – Wooyoung was a little worried about that last possibility.</p><p>He was almost home before Seonghwa texted him back. He just said, <em>I think there might be more than one.</em></p><p>Wooyoung stared at his phone. He hoped Seonghwa might keep going, but he waited and Seonghwa didn’t write anything else.</p><p>Wooyoung called him instead. The phone rang three times before Seonghwa picked up.</p><p>‘Why do you think it’s more than one person?’ Wooyoung asked, not waiting for a hello.</p><p>If Seonghwa thought he was being pushy, Wooyoung couldn’t tell from his voice.</p><p>‘Because of what you said,’ Seonghwa said. ‘About it being a lot of blood. And about the timing of the murders. The later ones are closer together.’</p><p>Wooyoung thought about that. ‘You think they turned someone else?’</p><p>‘It would make sense of some things.’</p><p>You could turn someone by sharing your own blood with them, after they were already weakened. Wooyoung had never done it; there were a few times when he’d been tempted, but he remembered how mad Yeosang had been, after Wooyoung had gotten himself turned. Even if he thought Yeosang was probably grateful for it now, he couldn’t forget that.</p><p>‘Wooyoung?’</p><p>‘I’m here,’ Wooyoung said. ‘You should be careful.’ He’d come up to his house now, but he didn’t go in yet.</p><p>‘I am careful.’</p><p>‘If you turn someone and they go bad like that,’ Wooyoung said, ‘if they turn more people … you’ve got to be responsible.’</p><p>‘Do you really think that?’ Seonghwa asked. He asked it seriously, so that Wooyoung had to answer in kind.</p><p>‘I do,’ he said. ‘You’re giving someone forever. You don’t do that on a whim.’ Yeosang and Wooyoung’s sire had; that didn’t mean he’d been right to.</p><p>‘You’re a funny sort of vampire,’ Seonghwa said.</p><p>‘You’re how many years old?’ Wooyoung said. ‘How many vampires have you even met?’</p><p>‘More than I should.’</p><p>There was a reason, Wooyoung thought, that Seonghwa had become a hunter. It was a story he wanted to hear, but Wooyoung didn’t think Seonghwa would tell it to him. Not yet.</p><p>‘Well, try not to meet too many more any time soon,’ Wooyoung said.</p><p>‘Right,’ Seonghwa said. He hesitated. ‘Good night, then.’</p><p>‘Good night,’ Wooyoung said. And then Seonghwa hung up, and Wooyoung let his hand with his phone in it drop. And he stayed out on the doorstep, until Yeosang came to call him an idiot and bring him inside.</p>
<hr/><p>Later that night, Wooyoung made a list of everyone he knew. Presumably the Council had given Seonghwa something similar – unless they liked to just throw young hunters in the deep end – but Wooyoung knew the other vampires, and Seonghwa did not.</p><p>It was almost as an afterthought that Wooyoung added the name of the man who had turned him and Yeosang. Wooyoung wasn’t even sure he was still in the country – he hadn’t encountered him in years, and he liked it that way. But when it came to turning people irresponsibly, how could Wooyoung have thought of anyone else?</p><p>Yeosang had Hongjoong staying over with him that night, and it was Hongjoong who found him at the table, staring at that last name on his list.</p><p>‘What are you doing?’ Hongjoong asked. He started making himself a drink. ‘Don’t tell me you’re writing love poetry.’</p><p>‘I’m not writing love poetry,’ Wooyoung said. He stopped frowning at his list and he frowned at Hongjoong instead. ‘Why would I be writing love poetry?’</p><p>Hongjoong made an innocent face. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘You’re saying you <em>weren’t</em> mooning when you were on the phone earlier?’</p><p>‘I was helping with an investigation,’ Wooyoung said primly. ‘There was no mooning involved.’</p><p>‘RIght,’ Hongjoong said. ‘The murders.’ His voice lost its lightness, and he turned away toward the kitchen counter. Wooyoung wondered how he felt – staying in a house with two vampires, when another one was out there killing people. Maybe another more than one. Hongjoong must have felt uneasy.</p><p>‘If I wrote a love poem,’ Wooyoung said, ‘would you critique it for me?’</p><p>Hongjoong flashed him a disbelieving look, but he seemed relieved. ‘If you write a love poem, I will <em>definitely </em>critique it for you,’ he said. He brought his mug over to sit by Wooyoung at the table. ‘So what are you doing?’</p><p>‘Just thinking,’ Wooyoung said. ‘On paper. Who might know something. I want to try and help him.’</p><p>‘The guy you’re not mooning for?’</p><p>Wooyoung gave him a look.</p><p>‘Sorry,’ Hongjoong said. ‘You know I’d rather think about you messing up your love life than the rest.’</p><p>‘I didn’t realise you were that interested in my love life,’ Wooyoung said. He ignored the <em>messing up</em> part.</p><p>Later, Yeosang joined them, and looked over Wooyoung’s list.</p><p>‘You’re really gonna place everyone under suspicion,’ he said.</p><p>‘I left your name off, didn’t I?’</p><p>Wooyoung saw a smile flit over Yeosang’s face. But he lost it when turned the page.</p><p>‘I’m not forgetting anyone?’ Wooyoung asked. Yeosang didn’t look at him. ‘Yeosang?’</p><p>‘Hm?’ Yeosang looked startled. ‘Oh, Lee Siyeon, she turned that boy back in the 70s, didn’t she? But he didn’t make it.’</p><p>‘“In the 70s”,’ Hongjoong said. He’d finished his drink and moved on to biscuits. ‘You’re so old.’</p><p>‘It wasn’t that long ago,’ Yeosang said.</p><p>‘Yeah, that’s what my grandparents say.’</p><p>Yeosang laughed. He made his extra comments in Wooyoung’s notebook, and then handed it back. He didn’t say anything about the last name Wooyoung had written.</p><p>Probably the list wouldn’t tell Seonghwa anything useful. Maybe it was just Wooyoung wanting an excuse to talk to him again. He took a photo of the pages, and sent it to Seonghwa; told Seonghwa to call him the next night.</p><p>He almost hoped Seonghwa would call him right away, but that was silly. Anyway, the sun was almost up.</p><p>At least with the sort of sleep a vampire slept, you didn’t have to dream.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next evening, Wooyoung woke up hungry. He should find someone to feed from, he knew, but he wasn’t in the mood for playing, and scrolling through his list of contacts made him feel weirdly guilty. And besides, he was waiting for Seonghwa to call. It wasn’t like he could do anything else before then.</p><p>He was lying on the couch with Yeosang when he got Seonghwa’s text; he sat bolt upright and gave Yeosang a fright.</p><p>‘At last,’ Yeosang said – maybe Wooyoung had been complaining a bit much about the wait. ‘Just watch he doesn’t think it’s suspicious you’re being so helpful. I wouldn’t want him to think we were covering for something.’</p><p>‘Obviously I just need to make my true intent clear, then,’ Wooyoung said. Seonghwa was suggesting they meet up. Wooyoung didn’t hesitate to agree to it, even with Yeosang’s cynicism over his shoulder.</p><p>‘What, that you wanna bone him?’</p><p>‘I wouldn’t phrase it like that.’</p><p>‘Maybe that’s a distraction too.’</p><p>‘I know, I know,’ Wooyoung said. ‘I shouldn’t try and seduce a hunter while there are murders going on.’ He laid his head back down on Yeosang’s lap. ‘If it was someone who just got turned, it probably doesn’t matter who did it. It could have been anyone. They might not even live here.’</p><p>‘It doesn’t have to be someone we know,’ Yeosang said. He patted Wooyoung’s hair idly.</p><p>Seonghwa texted back a location – a human bar this time. There was a part of Wooyoung that was perversely disappointed by that – he wanted to be <em>seen</em> with Seonghwa. You’d think, after two centuries, that he’d be over that sort of childishness, but he was not.</p><p>‘You don’t wanna come?’ Wooyoung asked Yeosang.</p><p>‘Do you really want me there?’ Yeosang said. Wooyoung scrunched up his face, and Yeosang laughed. ‘I think I’m good.’</p><p>‘Right.’ Wooyoung sat up. ‘Well, if I’m not back by morning, he’s obviously decided to stake me. Make sure you get revenge, won’t you?’</p><p>‘I’ll send him a thank you note,’ Yeosang said. Wooyoung shoved him, but Yeosang just laughed again. And Wooyoung headed out on his own.</p>
<hr/><p>The bar was one Wooyoung had never been to before, in a part of town he usually didn’t go to. It was quiet when he went in, only one person behind the bar – Wooyoung nodded and smiled, but he bypassed the barman for Seonghwa, who was seated at a corner table. </p><p>Seonghwa looked up only when he sat down, and it struck Wooyoung that he looked tired. His eyes were pink like he hadn’t slept – maybe he hadn’t much, if he’d been up during the day.</p><p>‘I didn’t know if you’d get back to me,’ Wooyoung said.</p><p>‘I had to visit another crime scene today.’</p><p>‘Another –’ No wonder he looked haunted. ‘You mean last night someone …?’</p><p>Seonghwa gave a little nod.</p><p>‘Shit.’</p><p>‘I want you to come with me somewhere,’ Seonghwa said. He tipped back his drink, his eyes on Wooyoung like a challenge.</p><p>‘Okay,’ Wooyoung said. ‘Is there a reason?’</p><p>‘I just want your opinion on something.’</p><p>‘Okay,’ Wooyoung said again. ‘Look, I didn’t know that there was another …’</p><p>Seonghwa shook his head, and Wooyoung held his tongue on what could have been an apology. What did he have to apologise for, really – for not having heard? For the very existence of his kind?</p><p>Seonghwa stood up – they were leaving already, then. Well, it wasn’t like there was any point in Wooyoung ordering a drink. He <em>could</em> drink, but it would do nothing for him. And there was only one thing Wooyoung was interested in drinking at the moment anyway. Seonghwa might have been tired, but he was still fucking hot.</p>
<hr/><p>Wooyoung had assumed Seonghwa would take him to the crime scene, but actually they were headed to the morgue. It made sense, Wooyoung supposed – you couldn’t just leave people’s bodies where they died – but it was strange to think of the normal human apparatus for death operating in a case like this.</p><p>Maybe, as the undead, a morgue should have been comfortable to Wooyoung. It was not.</p><p>‘You can see she was bitten in several places,’ Seonghwa said, when the body was laid out in front of them.</p><p>Wooyoung found he didn’t want to look too closely, but he made an affirmative noise.</p><p>‘Do you think it was one person or two?’</p><p>Wooyoung’s words wouldn’t come at first. The bites were so raw and ugly, preserved like this. ‘Two,’ he said.</p><p>Two of them, feeding at the same time. He could imagine the scene, and wished he couldn’t.</p><p>‘Most vampires,’ Seonghwa said, ‘are solitary, aren’t they?’</p><p>That wanted to rankle; Wooyoung didn’t know any vampires who lived together other than him and Yeosang. He answered reluctantly.</p><p>‘If it’s someone who’d just been turned,’ he said, ‘they might hunt with their sire. Or …’ Perhaps it was better just to come out with it. ‘Yeosang and I knew each other before either of us were turned. It’s different.’</p><p>‘We don’t know that’s not the case here.’ Seonghwa gestured at the body.</p><p>‘Yeosang didn’t turn me. And we never killed, besides.’</p><p>‘I didn’t say you did.’</p><p>‘It’s not the same.’ Yeosang had been turned first, but he’d never been at risk of killing anyone because he’d had Wooyoung.</p><p>It was different.</p><p>‘Can we go?’ Wooyoung said. Seonghwa looked at him strangely – maybe he thought Wooyoung was being squeamish – but he nodded.</p><p>They left the morgue together. Wooyoung felt weary, like he’d done more than just look at a corpse. But maybe that was hunger getting to him.</p><p>‘There was one body that didn’t match the others,’ Seonghwa said, his mind still on the case. ‘The others all fought back. There were no signs she had.’</p><p>‘If she didn’t fight back,’ Wooyoung said, ‘she probably knew them beforehand. Or maybe not, but she was expecting it. Some people are into that.’</p><p>‘Into dying?’</p><p>Wooyoung gave him a flat look; he knew Seonghwa knew what he meant.</p><p>‘That might have just been one person though,’ Seonghwa went on.</p><p>‘You should be looking into her life,’ Wooyoung said. ‘Not –’ He didn’t want to say <em>not go around harassing us</em>, because that wasn’t what Seonghwa was doing.</p><p>Wooyoung was just tired. He didn’t like seeing corpses.</p><p>‘She wasn’t the first one,’ Seonghwa said, ‘so I wasn’t thinking … it’s easy to mess up turning someone.’</p><p>‘So I’m told.’</p><p>‘I wonder if it’s really true.’</p><p>‘I know I thought I was going to die,’ Wooyoung said, ‘and I asked for it.’</p><p>Seonghwa stopped walking. Unexpectedly, he took Wooyoung by the shoulders, and even through Wooyoung’s clothing, the warmth of his hands was startling.</p><p>‘You did die,’ Seonghwa said.</p><p>‘I’m still here,’ Wooyoung said. He was too distracted by Seonghwa’s proximity to argue the point properly. Seonghwa smelt good. Like life.</p><p>‘You got lucky.’ Seonghwa took his hands away, and Wooyoung stepped in closer without thinking. In a smaller voice, Seonghwa asked, ‘Why did you want it?’</p><p>‘I didn’t want Yeosang to be alone,’ Wooyoung said. And, hesitatingly, ‘He didn’t ask for it.’ He touched his hand to Seonghwa’s chest, wanting to see how he’d react.</p><p>Seonghwa reached up, and he took Wooyoung’s hand in his.</p><p>‘I can’t tell,’ he said, ‘if you’re lovers or not.’</p><p>Wooyoung laughed. ‘Really?’ he said. ‘You were wondering?’ That was cute. ‘Sometimes. We’re both very old.’</p><p>‘Oh.’</p><p>‘There’s time for everything, when you’re like us,’ Wooyoung said. And then, because Seonghwa was still holding his hand, he kissed him.</p><p>‘You’re cold,’ Seonghwa mumbled.</p><p>‘Well, sorry for being dead,’ Wooyoung said. It wasn’t exactly the response he’d been hoping for. But it wasn’t like Seonghwa had pushed him away either.</p><p>Seonghwa squeezed his hand, then let go.</p><p>‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘I should look at the victims again.’</p><p>It took Wooyoung a moment to work out what <em>right</em> thing Seonghwa was talking about.</p><p>‘Did you want a hand with that?’ he asked.</p>
<hr/><p>He hadn’t expected Seonghwa to say yes, or to end up in Seonghwa’s apartment. The space felt more like a hotel room than a home, the notes and paperwork spread out over the coffee table the only sign of inhabitation. There were no family photos; the only art was the kind that could have come with a pre-furnished room.</p><p>Seonghwa made a drink while Wooyoung looked through the victim profiles. They were all women, all young, all pretty – it was funny how even for the kind of vampire who went for violence, their sexual preferences came through.</p><p>‘Which is the one you said?’ Wooyoung asked. ‘Who didn’t put up a struggle?’</p><p>Seonghwa came over, and he picked out one of the profiles for Wooyoung.</p><p>There wasn’t anything that stood out about her compared to the others. She was a student. She’d grown up in the area. Her parents had come home and found her like that. There had been nothing on the building’s CCTV, no sign of a break in.</p><p>‘Did she have a boyfriend?’ Wooyoung asked.</p><p>Seonghwa looked the woman up on his phone, and showed him the pictures. Here was the woman alive, smiling, together with a serious-eyed young man. When Wooyoung looked further back, there were pictures of them both in school uniform  – it should have seemed sweet.</p><p>‘Why did they bring you into this?’ Wooyoung asked suddenly. ‘I mean, why wouldn’t the police just investigate normally?’</p><p>‘Ask your Council,’ Seonghwa said. ‘They were the ones who invited me.’</p><p>‘It’s not <em>my</em> Council,’ Wooyoung muttered. Seonghwa didn’t comment. He took his phone back, and perched on the couch next to Wooyoung.</p><p>‘I was looking at what the cases had in common,’ he said. ‘They all seemed opportunistic. She’d just got home; I’d thought she was followed.’ He sounded a little miserable. Of course, he was a hunter, not a detective. And he was very young.</p><p>‘Shall we pay the boyfriend a visit, then?’ Wooyoung said.</p><p>Seonghwa made the call to the boy’s home; Wooyoung kept looking through his social media, half-listening.</p><p>He was from the university, Seonghwa said, and concerned about Kim Jinsu’s recent non-attendance. After which he spoke less, and in more conciliatory tones.</p><p>‘He’s not at home,’ Seonghwa said, after he’d hung up. ‘On an extended break, apparently.’</p><p>‘Because obviously a holiday is the best way to get over your girlfriend’s horrific murder,’ Wooyoung said. Seonghwa made a face. ‘He’s still in Seoul though.’ Wooyoung showed Seonghwa the recent posts.</p><p>‘So they’re lying or he’s lying,’ Seonghwa said.</p><p>‘We could check out the house anyway.’</p><p>‘Or maybe he’s staying with a friend?’</p><p>That was more trawling social media, then. There was a boy Jinsu was with in several photos who stood out to Wooyoung because, if he was honest, he was that good-looking. More so than poor Kim Jinsu.</p><p>The friend looked like Yeosang, a little. Maybe it was that that made Wooyoung say, ‘this one’ – the same fear that had made him write his own sire’s name down on the list he gave Seonghwa.</p><p>It was interesting, how neither of the boys had posted photos of themselves recently.</p><p>Wooyoung didn’t show up in photographs either.</p><p>‘They’re not posting during the day,’ Seonghwa pointed out.</p><p>‘They wouldn’t be,’ Wooyoung said. He stood up, feeling trapped all of a sudden. ‘I need to ask Yeosang something.’</p><p>Seonghwa didn’t object, when Wooyoung went outside to make the call.</p><p>The first thing Yeosang said was, ‘He hasn’t staked you yet, then.’ His voice was a relief.</p><p>‘Don’t sound so disappointed,’ Wooyoung said. He could imagine Yeosang’s responding smile, even if he couldn’t see it. Well, he could get rid of that. ‘Hey, you haven’t heard anything about Dongwook lately, have you?’</p><p>Yeosang went quiet a moment. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I didn’t think you were serious, writing him down.’</p><p>‘We might know who’s doing it,’ Wooyoung said. He sat down, back against the wall. ‘There’s two of them, and it’s just … one of them seems awfully his type.’</p><p>‘I’d tell you if I’d heard anything.’</p><p>‘I know. I just … I can’t help thinking.’ He worried his lip with his teeth. ‘You should be careful.’</p><p>‘You be careful,’ Yeosang said lazily.</p><p>‘I’m careful,’ Wooyoung said. ‘That’s why I’m with a guy who can kill me 20 different ways.’</p><p>‘That’s alright then,’ Yeosang said, with a laugh.</p><p>Wooyoung let him go.</p><p>When he went back inside, Seonghwa was cleaning up his cup in the kitchen. Wooyoung leaned back against the door and he watched him.</p><p>He tried to imagine turning Seonghwa, just because he thought he was pretty. He couldn’t imagine it. He <em>liked</em> Seonghwa. If you tried to turn someone you cared about and you failed … well, there was a reason Yeosang had told him no, wasn’t there? And it wasn’t wanting to spend an eternity by himself.</p><p>‘You know I’ll have to kill them if we’re right,’ Seonghwa said. He didn’t turn to face Wooyoung.</p><p>‘I know,’ Wooyoung said. It was what he should have done to Dongwook, instead of asking to be turned himself. He should have made the attempt, at least. ‘Have you before?’</p><p>Seonghwa turned around. ‘Yeah. Just once.’ He kept his eyes low. ‘My father thought he wanted to be turned. He was having an affair with this woman … she was a vampire but she refused to do it. So he went to someone else.’</p><p>‘Hang on, that was your dad?’ Wooyoung said. It wasn’t the most sensitive response. He’d heard about it, though – Kim Hyojin’s lover, who’d gone begging when she wouldn’t turn him, and ended up dying in the process. Hyojin had cursed him for an idiot, Wooyoung remembered, but he thought she had been genuinely grieved.</p><p>‘She helped me find the one who did it,’ Seonghwa said, ‘and she told me how to kill him. I don’t think the Council would have done anything otherwise, because my dad had asked him to do it. But they didn’t stop me either.’</p><p>‘They don’t like to get involved in personal matters,’ Wooyoung said, making the words light. Seonghwa’s face twisted anyway. Wooyoung crossed the room, and took Seonghwa’s hands in his.</p><p>‘I’m sorry about your father,’ he said.</p><p>Seonghwa shook his head.</p><p>‘We’ll find the ones who did this.’</p><p>Seonghwa left his hands in Wooyoung’s. ‘Why are you helping me?’ he asked.</p><p>It would be nice if Wooyoung could say something about holding people to account – that it shouldn’t be left to humans to police vampires. Except that Wooyoung had heard of the murders, hadn’t he? He’d dismissed them as something distasteful but none of his business.</p><p>‘There’s no good reason,’ he said. ‘Just that I like you, so I want to help you.’</p><p>Seonghwa gave him half a smile. ‘That’s a pretty shallow sort of reason,’ he said.</p><p>‘Sorry,’ Wooyoung said. ‘I guess I’m a pretty shallow sort of person.’</p><p>‘I don’t think that’s quite right,’ Seonghwa said.</p><p>When he looked at Wooyoung seriously like that, it was enough to make Wooyoung want to swoon.</p><p>But there would be time for that later.</p><p>Wooyoung gave Seonghwa’s hands another squeeze, and then let go.</p><p>‘So what happens next?’ he asked. ‘Wait for daylight, pay them a visit, and then –’ He made a crude staking motion with his hand.</p><p>If they were wrong about the two of them being turned, after all, then all that would happen was Seonghwa would show up and have a conversation with some bemused young men.</p><p>‘I think the Council generally prefers some evidence,’ Seonghwa said drily.</p><p>‘The evidence is when things stop, right? You mean that <em>you’d</em> rather have them confess to it first.</p><p>Seonghwa didn’t disagree.</p><p>‘Okay,’ Wooyoung said. ‘I want to ask them something too.’</p><p>Seonghwa looked at him consideringly. ‘Does that have anything to do with what you called Yeosang about?’</p><p>‘Yeah,’ Wooyoung said. ‘But I might be wrong.’</p><p>Maybe Seonghwa didn’t trust Wooyoung. Or maybe it didn’t matter if Seonghwa trusted him or not.</p><p>‘Provided I can get the right address, I’ll go in the day and set the trap then,’ Seonghwa said. ‘But I can wait for you, if you’d like.’</p><p>And Wooyoung nodded.</p>
<hr/><p>Usually, Wooyoung and Yeosang slept in separate rooms, but that morning, Wooyoung went to curl on Yeosang’s bed beside him. Yeosang was reading, waiting for the sunrise, and he didn’t say anything at first, just put his arm around Wooyoung. Finished his chapter.</p><p>Then he set his book aside and asked, ‘What will you do if it was him who turned them?’</p><p>Wooyoung had thought about that. ‘I’ll do whatever you want me to do,’ he said.</p><p>Yeosang shut his eyes. His face was perfectly still, before he answered. ‘I don’t want to ever see him again.’</p><p>‘Okay,’ Wooyoung said. He kissed Yeosang’s hand. ‘I can do that.’ He said it as much to convince himself as to reassure Yeosang. If this was his chance, he’d try, at least. He’d try and make it so they never saw Dongwook ever again.</p><p>There was only one way to make sure of that.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Wooyoung woke, there was a text from Seonghwa waiting – an address and the simple words, ‘it’s them’. The time on the text was before sunset – Seonghwa couldn’t have spoken to the boys when he sent it, but the words were nevertheless certain.</p>
<p>Wooyoung got himself ready. Hongjoong arrived as he was leaving, and he said hello and then goodbye, and he took a taxi across town to the apartment building Seonghwa had indicated.</p>
<p>It was an old building, but the sort that hadn’t been any more appealing when it was new. If you needed a room without sunlight, though, it would probably do.</p>
<p>Wooyoung rang the buzzer at the door, and Seonghwa answered.</p>
<p>Wooyoung took the stairs to the fourth floor. He didn’t even need to knock on the apartment door – Seonghwa opened it before he got the chance.</p>
<p>Seonghwa, he thought, looked different that evening. Like the details of his face were sharper. He looked angry. His eyes softened when he saw Wooyoung, though.</p>
<p>‘They’re inside,’ Seonghwa said, as he let Wooyoung in. ‘You should ask your questions quickly. I don’t want to see them any more.’</p>
<p>They’d both been restrained in silver, trussed up in the centre of the living room. The boyfriend, Jinsu, had his head hung low, while his friend had his chin held high, defiant. They smelt of the dead, both of them. It wasn’t the smell of decay, but rather of the absence of life – blood that was cold and not hot. It wasn’t a smell that humans seemed to notice, but Wooyoung did; from the way the boys looked at him now, they did too.</p>
<p>‘Now what?’ said the friend, the one who looked like Yeosang. ‘Are you here to judge us too?’</p>
<p>Wooyoung almost smiled. ‘I don’t need to judge you,’ he said. He slipped the portrait from his jacket – Yeosang had drawn for him the night before, with some recalcitrance. ‘I just want to know if you’ve this man.’</p>
<p>The boy’s eyes went wide. But then he glared at Wooyoung, and he said, ‘What’s it to you?’</p>
<p>‘I owe him something,’ Wooyoung said. He tucked the picture away again, although perhaps he would rather have burned it. ‘I think perhaps you owe him something too. Although maybe you’d rather be without it now?’</p>
<p>‘Just get it over with,’ Jinsu muttered.</p>
<p>‘It wasn’t meant to be like this,’ his friend insisted.</p>
<p>‘Which part?’ Wooyoung asked. ‘The killing? Or the getting caught?’</p>
<p>The boy lost his defiance; he looked uncertain.</p>
<p>‘Did he tell you it would be different?’ Wooyoung didn’t really need the confirmation – the boy could have just denied knowing Dongwook, but he’d prevaricated instead. Wooyoung felt sorry for him, a little. If Dongwook hadn’t fixed himself on him, he probably would have lived a happy life, and never murdered anyone.</p>
<p>‘Why are you on <em>his</em> side?’ The boy cast his eyes at Seonghwa. ‘If you’re like us –’</p>
<p>‘Because the ones who live now neuter themselves,’ the other boy said, in a dark tone. ‘Wasn’t that what that guy said?’</p>
<p>And Wooyoung looked at Jinsu again. ‘He turned you both?’</p>
<p>‘He said good things come in pairs.’</p>
<p>Wooyoung wanted to slap him. He rarely felt angry, now; but he could imagine Dongwook saying that. He’d probably even said it before, to drive Yeosang crazy.</p>
<p>Maybe he’d said it to bait the two of them now.</p>
<p>‘I don’t need to know anything else,’ Wooyoung said to Seonghwa. His voice came out dull, and he turned away.</p>
<p>Maybe it was wrong to leave Seonghwa with the dirty work. But Seonghwa let him go sit out in the hallway. There, Wooyoung pulled out his phone, and he stared at it for a minute before he called Yeosang. It took long enough for him to pick up that Wooyoung thought maybe he wouldn’t. But before he could give up, someone answered.</p>
<p>‘Wooyoung, you have to get back here.’ It was Hongjoong’s voice on the other end, not Yeosang’s. Wooyoung jumped back to his feet.</p>
<p>‘What’s wrong?’ he said.</p>
<p>‘He took Yeosang,’ Hongjoong said. ‘You have to get back here.’</p>
<p>For a moment, Wooyoung couldn’t answer.</p>
<p>‘I’ll be there,’ he said. He hung up the phone, and turned around to see Seonghwa standing in the doorway.</p>
<p>‘I have to go,’ he said. ‘He …’ Wooyoung felt like he was swaying. But Seonghwa put his hands on Wooyoung’s arms, and he looked Wooyoung in the eye.</p>
<p>‘What is it?’ Seonghwa asked. His voice was very gentle, considering what he must’ve just done.</p>
<p>Wooyoung blinked at him, and he said, ‘He took Yeosang. He took my Yeosang. Hongjoong … I have to get home.’</p>
<p>‘I’ll take you,’ Seonghwa said. ‘Give me one minute.’</p>
<p>He had to tidy up, Wooyoung realised numbly. At least there were no bodies to deal with. When Wooyoung died, died properly, it would be the same. You just dissolved to ash and disappeared. Like should have happened long ago.</p>
<p>He should have been a corpse long ago. He should have killed Dongwook long ago. He should have …</p>
<p>‘Wooyoung,’ Seonghwa said. Wooyoung didn’t know if it was the first or fifth time he’d spoken. ‘Come on. I’ll drive you.’</p>
<p>Wooyoung followed him down the stairs. He didn’t want to think about ash they left behind. Why had Dongwook turned those boys? For this? <em>Good things come in pairs.</em></p>
<p>Wooyoung stared at his own hands in the car. His veins were so blue, even without the flutter of life in them.</p>
<p>‘Tell me what you heard,’ Seonghwa said.</p>
<p>‘I called Yeosang’s phone. Hongjoong picked up.’</p>
<p>‘Hongjoong?’ Seongha glanced over at him.</p>
<p>‘Yeosang’s boyfriend. He’s a good guy. He’s …’ He thought of how Hongjoong had sounded on the phone, the strain in his voice. ‘I hope Dongwook didn’t hurt him.’</p>
<p>‘Dongwook is the man in the picture?’</p>
<p>‘Yeah.’ Hongjoong hadn’t said that was who it was, but Wooyoung was certain. Dongwook had set up these murders for them.</p>
<p>‘And he’s your sire?’</p>
<p>‘Yeah.’ Wooyoung sank deeper into the car seat.</p>
<p>‘Why would he take Yeosang?’</p>
<p>‘He’s playing with us. He thinks it’s funny. He’s always been playing with us.’</p>
<p>Seonghwa didn’t ask him any more; he just drove.</p>
<hr/>
<p>When they got back to the house, it smelt like blood. Like Hongjoong’s blood. Hongjoong was in the kitchen, sitting at the table with a bandage on his neck and Yeosang’s phone in his hand. He looked up when Wooyoung came in, his eyes dark and fearful.</p>
<p>‘What happened?’ Wooyoung said. ‘Did he hurt you?’ Wooyoung stopped short of the kitchen – the scent of blood was dizzying.</p>
<p>Maybe Wooyoung should have eaten more recently.</p>
<p>‘I’m okay,’ Hongjoong said. ‘He threatened me, that’s all, to get Yeosang to go with him.’ He laid his hand over the bandage on his neck, and Wooyoung knew the threat hadn’t been just words.</p>
<p>He didn’t trust himself to try and comfort Hongjoong right now. But Seonghwa came up behind him, and he put his hand on Wooyoung’s back, and Wooyoung felt reassured, if only a little.</p>
<p>‘Who’s this,’ Hongjoong said, looking at Seonghwa, ‘the guy you like?’ He wasn’t teasing, just careless-sounding.</p>
<p>‘Yeah,’ Wooyoung said. ‘This is Park Seonghwa. He said he’d help.’</p>
<p>Hongjoong nodded, as if that was only to be expected.</p>
<p>‘I swapped our phones.’ He held Yeosang’s phone out toward Wooyoung, and when Wooyoung didn’t move, Seonghwa took it for him.</p>
<p>There was a map open on the screen; Seonghwa showed it to him.</p>
<p>‘I can trace my phone if it’s lost,’ Hongjoong said. ‘That’s why … so we should be able to find him.’</p>
<p>Wooyoung stared at the screen. ‘That’s brilliant,’ he said, and he meant it. ‘Seonghwa –’</p>
<p>‘I’ll go with you,’ Seonghwa said. ‘It’s Hongjoong, right?’ He handed the phone back, and Hongjoong closed his hand around it like it was something precious.</p>
<p>‘I’m coming too,’ Hongjoong said.</p>
<p>‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ Seonghwa asked.</p>
<p>‘You’re not leaving me here.’ There was a desperate note in Hongjoong’s voice.</p>
<p>‘Let him come,’ Wooyoung said softly. Seonghwa turned to give him a doubtful look. ‘We can always make him wait in the car.’</p>
<p>‘Good enough,’ Hongjoong said. He got to his feet, a little unsteady – vulnerable, Wooyoung thought.</p>
<p>And Wooyoung should <em>not</em> be thinking about biting Yeosang’s boyfriend right now. What was wrong with him? He’d just been attacked.</p>
<p>‘What are we waiting for?’ Hongjoong asked.</p>
<p>Wooyoung didn’t know. He couldn’t say. He just turned to go back outside, to get back in Seonghwa’s car again.</p>
<hr/>
<p>It was a longer drive this time, out of the city and toward the countryside. Hongjoong fell asleep in the back seat; Wooyoung sat in the front with Seonghwa and stayed tense.</p>
<p>‘Are you alright?’ Seonghwa asked him at last.</p>
<p>‘I don’t know,’ Wooyoung said. ‘I feel like I’m dreaming. Like maybe this already happened and I’m just remembering it.’ Wooyoung shut his eyes. ‘Why are you helping me?’</p>
<p>It was the same question Seonghwa had asked him the night before. It was funny how in a life as long as Wooyoung’s had been, a single night could feel so long ago.</p>
<p>‘I wondered if I was making a mistake to trust you,’ Seonghwa said, ‘when I sent you the address before.’</p>
<p>‘What?’ That wasn’t an answer.</p>
<p>‘But I did,’ Seonghwa said, ‘because I like you. Okay?’</p>
<p>He probably didn’t mean anything special by it, Wooyoung thought, but it made him feel warmer. ‘Even though I’m a filthy blood-drinker?’</p>
<p>‘Seriously?’ Seonghwa said. ‘It wasn’t a human who taught me to hunt, you know.’</p>
<p>‘It wasn’t?’</p>
<p>‘It was Kim Hyojin,’ Seonghwa said. He sounded as if the fact of it vaguely annoyed him. ‘She wouldn’t take action herself, but she still showed me what to do.’</p>
<p>‘I didn’t know that.’</p>
<p>‘Why would you have?’</p>
<p>It was enough like gossip to perk Wooyoung up – a part of the story he hadn’t heard. He wouldn’t have thought it off the cool Hyojin, but maybe she had been impressed by Seonghwa too.</p>
<p>He turned around in his seat, so that he could watch Seonghwa properly. ‘I think you’re a good guy, Park Seonghwa.’</p>
<p>Seonghwa gave him a look like he thought Wooyoung was speaking nonsense. That was charming too, and in other circumstances it would have made Wooyoung want to keep going, to wind him up. It wasn’t the time, though.</p>
<p>Wooyoung only had to hope that things wouldn’t go so wrong that they never got the time again.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Eventually they arrived. Seonghwa parked some distance off, so that they didn’t attract attention by driving up.</p>
<p>‘You will stay in the car, won’t you?’ Wooyoung asked Hongjoong.</p>
<p>‘I’ll be good,’ Hongjoong said. ‘Just tell me when he’s okay.’</p>
<p>Wooyoung agreed to that, while Seonghwa, more pragmatically, offered Hongjoong a crossbow (Wooyoung hadn’t realised he had that in the back of the car) and checked whether he could drive (he couldn’t).</p>
<p>‘I guess in an emergency you’ll just have to run somewhere for help,’ Seonghwa said, unimpressed. And because he couldn’t stop giving advice, said, ‘Make sure you keep the doors locked.’</p>
<p>‘I’ll be fine,’ Hongjoong said. ‘You two go.’</p>
<p>Wooyoung got out, then.</p>
<p>The night air was cold, even to Wooyoung; he thought maybe it would snow soon. This far out from the city the sky was properly dark – not the sky he remembered from when he’d been alive, back before things like light and air pollution had been a problem, but closer than he usually got.</p>
<p>Wooyoung had Yeosang’s phone now. The map tracking Hongjoong’s phone led them to an old-fashioned house – the sort that would have cost a fortune in heating, except that Dongwook didn’t have to worry about things like cold.</p>
<p>‘I should go in first,’ Wooyoung said. ‘He’ll be expecting me. He won’t be expecting you.’ Even if he knew about Seonghwa, Dongwook shouldn’t know that he would be here with Wooyoung now. That, then, was an advantage.</p>
<p>Seonghwa nodded, and he let Wooyoung walk the path to the house alone.</p>
<p>What would Wooyoung do if he hadn’t had Seonghwa with him? Probably walk in the front door. Act like he wanted to fight Dongwook, and then fall to his knees and beg him to leave Yeosang alone. Hadn’t something like that happened before? Looking for Dongwook and then begging him.</p>
<p>The door to the house was unlocked. Wooyoung didn’t think that was carelessness – Dongwook was expecting him. Based on the map, Yeosang should be toward the back of the house, Wooyoung thought. He walked in as if that knowledge made him confident.</p>
<p>Dongwook was waiting, blocking his way.</p>
<p>‘You’re early,’ Dongwook said. ‘I thought I would need to leave you more clues than that.’ He pushed off the wall of the hallway, his movement wolf-like in the shadows, and Wooyoung wanted to back away.</p>
<p>‘Stop messing around,’ he said instead. ‘Where’s Yeosang?’</p>
<p>‘He’s fine. Stubborn as usual. But we were waiting for you, after all.’ Dongwook smiled, and if it had ever been a smile that was meant to be charming, it had become something monstrous now.</p>
<p>‘Well, I’m here now,’ Wooyoung said. ‘You should let him go.’</p>
<p>‘Why?’ Dongwook came up close to Wooyoung, and he traced his fingers down the side of Wooyoung’s face. ‘I haven’t seen you both in so long.’</p>
<p>Wooyoung tried very hard not to flinch, but he knew Dongwook noted the effort.</p>
<p>‘You’re very pale,’ Dongwook said. ‘Have you been eating properly?’</p>
<p>‘None of your business.’</p>
<p>‘Everything about you is my business,’ Dongwook said. His voice lost its ingratiating quality. ‘I made you, remember?’</p>
<p>Wooyoung remembered. He remembered how he’d felt, when Dongwook had bled him, and taken so much that Wooyoung thought he would die; he’d thought Dongwook was killing him (he had killed him). He remembered too how Dongwook’s own blood had tasted, the thick metal taste that had only made him feel sicker. Dongwook hadn’t let him push him away; he’d given Wooyoung what he’d asked for.</p>
<p>But Yeosang never asked for it.</p>
<p>Yeosang had wanted to never see Dongwook again.</p>
<p>Dongwook trailed his fingers down Wooyoung’s neck. It had left no scar, that time he’d almost bled Wooyoung dry. And Wooyoung couldn’t be scarred by things like that any more.</p>
<p>‘I think maybe you need a reminder,’ Dongwook said. And he bent his head toward Wooyoung’s neck. Wooyoung tried to push him away, but Dongwook held him, and sunk his teeth into his skin, and tore it.</p>
<p>Seonghwa could come along any time now. Wooyoung wished he would. The perverse thing was that there was no reason for it – there was no sustenance Dongwook could get from Wooyoung. It was like he’d stopped living off blood, moved to living off fear.</p>
<p>But it meant that Dongwook was distracted, when the door behind him opened.</p>
<p>Wooyoung stopped trying to push Dongwook away. He met Yeosang’s eyes in the doorway, and he mouthed at him, ‘Do it.’</p>
<p>Yeosang moved forward with the stake in his hand, and he stabbed Dongwook in the back.</p>
<p>In that moment of shock, Wooyoung was able to pull out of Dongwook’s grip. Without Wooyoung there, Dongwook stumbled. Yeosang yanked the stake free. And when Dongwook turned toward him, Yeosang pushed him into the wall and he drove the stake in again, his aim better this time.</p>
<p>Yeosang’s eyes were as wild as Wooyoung had ever seen them. He thought Yeosang would keep on stabbing Dongwook; if Dongwook had been human, he would have kept stabbing him.</p>
<p>Except Dongwook was not human. And in the moment his body went still, it desiccated. Turned to ash beneath Yeosang’s hands.</p>
<p>Yeosang looked so wild, still, that Wooyoung was afraid to go to him.</p>
<p>But Seonghwa came out from the back too, and he didn’t look at Yeosang but at Wooyoung, and he went to him.</p>
<p>‘What did he do?’ Seonghwa lifted his hand, as if he wanted to touch the wound of Wooyoung’s neck.</p>
<p>‘It will heal,’ Wooyoung said. It hurt a lot more than it should have, though – an ache that Wooyoung had felt once before, and forgotten.</p>
<p>Yeosang stopped staring at the space where Dongwook had been, then; he looked at Wooyoung instead. His eyes lost that wild look, and he dropped the stake he had held so tightly, and he went and clasped Wooyoung’s shoulders in his hands.</p>
<p>‘You’re okay,’ he said.</p>
<p>‘I’m okay.’</p>
<p>Had Yeosang thought Dongwook was killing him? He looked so relieved. Wooyoung hadn’t even done anything; he’d just stood there and been the distraction.</p>
<p>‘Are <em>you</em> okay?’ Wooyoung asked.</p>
<p>‘I’ve been better.’ Yeosang looked over his shoulder at Seonghwa, who was standing there awkwardly. ‘Thank you,’ he said.</p>
<p>Seonghwa nodded.</p>
<p>Yeosang looked back at Wooyoung again, and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. And Wooyoung held onto him, for longer than he needed to.</p>
<p>At last he said, ‘Hongjoong’s in the car. He’ll be glad to see you.’</p>
<p>Yeosang let go then. ‘I thought he was going to die,’ he murmured. ‘I thought Dongwook would kill him.’</p>
<p>‘I know,’ Wooyoung said. Without Yeosang holding onto him, he felt unsteady. He touched his hand to the wound in his neck, sticky with slow blood.</p>
<p>‘Wooyoung,’ Seonghwa said, ‘when was the last time you fed?’</p>
<p>Wooyoung saw at Seonghwa’s concerned expression, but he didn’t quite understand it.</p>
<p>‘Not since you came over that first time,’ Yeosang said. ‘He’s being stupid.’</p>
<p>‘I’m not being stupid,’ Wooyoung said, automatically. It wasn’t that long ago. But then, usually Wooyoung wasn’t being bitten in turn.</p>
<p>‘We’ll meet you in the car,’ Seonghwa said to Yeosang. ‘It’s down the road, north a bit.’ He turned his attention back to Wooyoung. ‘I think you should sit down.’</p>
<p>‘I’m fine,’ Wooyoung said, but he let Seonghwa tug on his arm and direct him to the floor.</p>
<p>Yeosang dithered a moment, but left them to it.</p>
<p>‘I’m fine,’ Wooyoung said again. ‘<em>I</em> didn’t get staked through the heart.’</p>
<p>‘Uh-huh,’ Seonghwa said. He began to fold back the sleeve of his jacket. ‘I probably shouldn’t do this.’</p>
<p>Wooyoung stared at him without understanding; then when he did understand, he said, ‘No, you don’t have to do that.’</p>
<p>And Seonghwa fixed him with a look like he thought Wooyoung was being an idiot.</p>
<p>Maybe he was. Hadn’t he thought about it? The scent of Seonghwa’s blood under his skin, that smell of life. And now Seonghwa offered his wrist to him.</p>
<p>And maybe it wasn’t quite the sexy scenario Wooyoung had had in mind, but he took Seonghwa’s wrist in his hands, and he sunk his teeth into the skin there. Seonghwa’s hand tensed. He made a little noise at the pain, but he didn’t pull away. And Wooyoung let the blood flow onto his tongue, coppery and sweet.</p>
<p>When he looked up, Seonghwa had let his eyes fall closed. Wooyoung watched him, as he drank – the way Seonghwa’s chest rose as he caught his breath; the way his mouth trembled.</p>
<p>Wooyoung didn’t take too much. Life, any amount of life, was a gift, and he didn’t know that he really deserved it from Seonghwa. But Seonghwa had given to him anyway.</p>
<p>When Wooyoung was done, Seonghwa rubbed at his wrist; the wounds were only small, compared to those Dongwook had left. Seonghwa looked up at Wooyoung again.</p>
<p>‘Your neck’s better,’ he said. He left his wrist and touched his fingers to Wooyoung’s neck; it was completely different from being touched by Dongwook. Seonghwa sounded a little awed.</p>
<p>He really was a beautiful guy.</p>
<p>Wooyoung leaned in, and he kissed him; Seonghwa didn’t resist; he opened his mouth to Wooyoung, and if Wooyoung tasted like blood, it didn’t seem to bother him.</p>
<p>After a minute, Seonghwa pulled away, and he placed a finger over Wooyoung’s mouth, and he said, ‘Yeosang will be worried.’</p>
<p>‘He won’t be worried,’ Wooyoung said. And then conceded, ‘He might get annoyed, if we take too long.’</p>
<p>‘Is that a different thing?’</p>
<p>‘Very different.’ Wooyoung stood up. He felt much better than he had before; he helped Seonghwa up too.</p>
<p>‘Don’t forget your stake,’ Wooyoung said, seeing it on the floor. Seonghwa looked at him sideways, but he picked it up. ‘Funny how it’s clean now.’ </p>
<p>Wooyoung was sure the stake had been bloody, after Yeosang had used it. But the blood, like Dongwook, had dissolved and turned to ash.</p>
<p>Funny to think that he was really dead.</p>
<p>‘It’s just as well,’ Seonghwa said. He looked pensive, with the stake in his hands. ‘Those boys – they’ll be missing people, but no-one will ever know what happened to them. They’ll never be found.’</p>
<p>‘Does that bother you?’</p>
<p>Seonghwa hesitated, but he nodded.</p>
<p>And Wooyoung didn’t need to remind him what the boys had done; Seonghwa knew what they’d done. But he still felt bad, for the people left behind. Wooyoung wasn’t going to tell him to stop feeling that way.</p>
<p>He took Seonghwa’s hand in his, laced their fingers together.</p>
<p>And together, they went to where Yeosang and Hongjoong were waiting.</p>
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